Tiki Barber revealed Tuesday that he's planning to return to the NFL, four years after retiring as the New York Giants' all-time leading rusher.

Barber, the twin brother of Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Ronde Barber, already has filed the necessary papers with the league, according to the agency that represents him.

"After seeing how much fun Ronde is still having, it re-ignited my fire, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of seeing if I can get back to the level of where I was," Barber told NFL Network's and Fox Sports' Jay Glazer.

The Giants retain the rights to Barber, who will be 36 next season and has two years remaining on his contract, NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora reported. The team would have to activate Barber, then decide whether or not to release him.

The Giants already have made their decision, saying Tuesday that they will release Barber once a new collective bargaining agreement has been reached.

"We wish Tiki nothing but the best, and when we are able to make the transaction, we will release him from our reserve/retired list,” Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon said on his Twitter page.

Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris, speaking to the St. Petersburg Times, said he hasn't spoken to general manager Mark Domink about it, but would not rule out reuniting the Barber brothers. The two played together at the University of Virginia.

"You know me, we always discuss those guys who can help us. ... I'm sure he can help someone, if not us, if it ever came to that," Morris said.

Morris said he only has to look at Ronde, recently signed to a one-year deal, to know what type of player he would get in Tiki.

"When you're talking about those type of great players, you've always got to have interest," Morris said. "And if he's got the heart and the desire and the fire, I say you do it. It's no different than his brother. He's one of those guys who doesn't know when he's going to run out of gas."

Barber retired following the 2006 season after 10 seasons with the Giants. He subsequently was hired as a correspondent for NBC's "The Today Show" and "Football Night in America."

The Giants won Super Bowl XLII without Barber after the 2007 season.

Barber was drafted by the Giants in the second round (36th overall) in 1997 and originally was used a third-down, change-of-pace back. He caught 142 passes out of the backfield during his first three seasons before taking a larger role in the offense.

Barber started 12 games in 2000 and recorded his first 1,000-yard rushing season. He caught a career-high 72 passes the following season, despite missing two games. In 2002, he rushed for 1,387 yards, beginning a streak of five consecutive seasons with over 1,200 yards.

In 2006, Barber's last season, he rushed for 1,662 yards -- the second-most in his career -- and added 465 yards on 58 receptions.

Barber has 10,449 rushing yards with 55 touchdowns and 586 receptions for 5,183 yards in his NFL career.

The warning for months from union officials to NFL players has been simple: Save your paychecks because the future is uncertain.

Another warning should come along with it: Remember that nothing lasts forever.

Brett Favre could have saved himself plenty of embarrassment had he heeded those words instead of returning for one last dismal season. Not only did his reputation take a beating, but so did his 41-year-old body.

Favre, of course, is not alone. History is littered with athletes who, for one reason or another, simply couldn't let go.

But when it happens in the violent contact sport that is the NFL, there can be some unpleasant consequences.

That's what makes the case of Tiki Barber so interesting. Barber was the one player who seemed to get it, retiring from the New York Giants after enduring a pounding as an undersized running back in the league for 10 years.

"You start to realize this is a young man's game," Barber said on his way out. "This is for guys who can get hit, knocked up, beat up and be fine on Tuesday."

Four years later, Tuesday has come for Barber. The 35-year-old has filed paperwork to try and play in the NFL again, assuming he can find a team that wants him.

That team won't be the Giants. They wished Barber good luck, saying they will release their rights to him so he can pursue work somewhere else in the league.

Hard to blame them. Though Barber is the team's career rushing leader with 10,449 yards, not many Giants fans will forget his final season in New York, when his mouth may have cost the team a possible shot at the Super Bowl.

He called quarterback Eli Manning's attempts to motivate the team "comical," and wondered out loud why coach Tom Coughlin didn't understand that he needed to run the football for the Giants to win. He also became a lame-duck distraction by announcing he would retire at the end of the season, and a team that started 6-2 ended up 8-8.

He's regarded by many as such a pariah in New York that he was roundly booed when he was installed on the ring of honor at the team's new $1.6 billion stadium.

For many fans, the only thing anyone needs to know about Barber is that the Giants finally did win the Super Bowl a year after he left.

None of that was supposed to matter when Barber gave up the final two years of a lucrative contract to embark on a new career. Glib and personable, he reportedly spurned offers from two other networks to sign a deal with NBC that not only landed him briefly on the network's Sunday night football program, but gave him a day job as a correspondent for the "Today" show.

For a while it seemed like Barber was everywhere. He wrote an autobiography, became partners in a flavored water company. There was talk of him one day entering politics.

Now he's nowhere. Out of football, out of the job he left the game for.

In a story Tuesday that broke news about Barber's possible comeback, SI.com said Barber reportedly left his wife, Ginny, who was eight months pregnant with twins, for 23-year-old Traci Johnson, a former NBC intern. Last year, NBC cited its morals clause and terminated the contract that reportedly paid Barber $300,000 a year.

The New York Post reported last June that Barber was broke and couldn't pay his divorce settlement with his ex-wife.

Now he wants back in the NFL, and it's easy to see why. The minimum salary for a 10-year veteran is $865,000 and a contract containing some incentives could push that salary even higher.

The question is, who would want him? Old running backs aren't in great demand, especially one who has taken as many hits as Barber.

And, outside of a possible pairing with his twin brother, Ronde, in Tampa Bay, who would risk even the minimum salary on a 35-year-old who was a clubhouse malcontent and has been out of the game for four years?

Barber would be wise to remember his own words when he parted ways with the NFL.

"Always leave them wanting more," he said. "Leave too early rather than too late."
What Barber doesn't realize is that it's already way too late.

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Look at these eyebrows. These are attack eyebrows! They could take off bottle caps!